Day 2: Laying Out the Spread on the Bowen/Baker Trailhead

The Burning Daylight Crew was hoping to shove off from Longmont at around 9, but Boyd and Rita needed to check the spark plugs in the van, so we didn’t leave until 10:30. We rolled into Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park at about 11:45. A lot of the trees in this area and other places have been devastated by pine beetles, which have infested much of the forest from Mexico to Canada.

Rocky Mountain National Park is incredibly beautiful. It is hard to describe in words. To think that people would want to despoil these places is beyond me. We got some good pictures at the Forest Canyon Overlook and at the Visitors Center. The highest point on Trail Ridge Road, through the park, is at roughly 12,200 feet and is tundra. The wind was blowing about 30-40 miles an hour, the temperature was around 55 degrees, and it was raining a little. We stopped at the Bowen/Baker Trailhead and laid out our lunch spread around 2:30. We got nice pictures of some storm clouds at the Trailhead and got rained on a little during our brief hike. We finally left the Park at about 4:15 on our way to Wyoming. We did see a moose eating some vegetation in the Arapahoe National Forest and a bald eagle during our drive from the Park to the Wyoming border.

The drive from the Park to Wyoming is starkly attractive. Most of the land is reserved for ranches and the homes are spread far, far apart. I can see why these places attract hard-working, fiercely independent people. We took several pictures between Rand and Walden, Colorado. We stopped in Saratoga, Wyoming, to fill up ($2.99 per gallon) and eat at a local restaurant called Stumpy’s Eatery (yes, it really is called Stumpy’s and is just an old house redone as an eatery). Two interesting things on the menu were stumps (tater tots) and bull fries (bull testicles), which Bud forced the waitress to explain. After we left Saratoga, we hooked up with I-80, and took it for about 150 miles to Rock Springs, WY, where we were lucky to find two rooms at the La Quinta after they “lost” our reservation. We didn’t get settled into our hotel rooms until about midnight. Ugh! Another long day tomorrow as we drive through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully we will get into Butte before midnight tomorrow!!

Check out more of Carrie’s photos below:

Day 2

--BDC